Attack Of The Zombie Brands!

By consumerist.comMarch 20, 2007

If you think you are having flashbacks every now and then, you are right. So are manufacturers, who grab onto every advantage–even a dubious one–to make their products stand out in a crowded marketplace. Thus, Ford pulls the 500 badge and revives Taurus. Coca-Cola revives Tab as Tab Energy, and Life magazine is demoted to a newspaper insert. From Slate’s Daniel Gross:

What gives? Why kill a product only to resurrect it? Businessspeople and marketers put great store in the concept of brand equity, the set of intangible factors that account for the value of a brand or a product. Even when products fail or are withdrawn from the marketplace, they still retain vestigial brand equity.